


Cherished

by evieplease



Category: Benedict Cumberbatch - Fandom, British Actor RPF, Tom Hiddleston - Fandom
Genre: Dom/sub, First Time Blow Jobs, Food Porn, Light BDSM, Other, Vaginal Sex, mfm, two doms, veterinary student
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-23
Updated: 2021-02-25
Packaged: 2021-03-08 04:14:06
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,778
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26609599
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/evieplease/pseuds/evieplease
Summary: Cherry finds it impossible to communicate about sex, her friend sets her up with a Dom for practical lessons in sex and communication.
Relationships: Ben/OFC/Tom, Tom/OFC, ben/ofc
Comments: 13
Kudos: 36





	1. Invitation

You are warmly invited on a journey of discovery and earthly delights, where all your deepest secret desires and needs will be explored and met with ecstasy. 

Your journey begins on Friday Night at Seven pm, when you will join your host in a sumptuous, candlelit meal and delightfully frank conversation. You, lovely, will be dining in your finest lingerie…  
and nothing else.

Instructions du jour, to be followed to the letter:

Clear your calendar Friday Night and Saturday  
Inform your Sponsor of your location  
Arrive promptly  
Go right in, do not announce yourself   
Remove your outer clothing, folding and placing them on the Sideboard in the Foyer  
Leave your shoes, bag and phone  
Follow the floor lighting to the open door where your presence is eagerly awaited

Graciously offer up your trust and obedience, your pleasure will be returned multiplied


	2. Chapter 2

It had taken her two tries to jam her key in the lock, her hands were shaking so much. She let herself into the flat she shared with Janie at last. Dropping her bag with a thump, she reached down and flung each of her shoes off.

A yelp came from the lounge beyond the entry way, making her jump.

“Janie?! Oh shit!” Cherry dashed through the doorway, and was relieved to find her shoe lying on the carpet at least a meter away from Janie’s seat on the sofa. Janie was clutching her shirt and gasping in surprise at the unexpected shoe assault, curled up in the corner of the sofa with an architecture text book on her knees, her laptop resting on the sofa arm. For some reason she had three pencils sticking out of the messy bun of her hair.

“Sorry, sorry! I didn’t mean to do that!” Cherry’s eyes were tearing up.

“Cherry, what the hell?! Are you alright?”

“I’m fine. I’m sorry I startled you!” 

“Girl, that’s not what I asked! Are. You. All. Right?” Janie glared at Cherry and pointed emphatically at the other end of the sofa, demanding that she sit.

“I told you, I’m fine.” Cherry mumbled, giving in and sitting on the edge of the sofa. She wished she’d been quieter coming in. She wanted to escape into her room, not be quizzed about her failure.

“Yes, but you don’t usually announce ‘fine’ with flying footwear!” Janie set aside her work, watching Cherry with narrow, concerned eyes. “You’re not alright. Love, what did he do to you?” Janie’s worried face blocked her escape.

The tears Cherry had been holding back by main force of will spilled as her hands hid her face in shame. Janie wrapped her arms around Cherry as she tried to get control.

“N-nothing! Ev-everything! I just... He just...” She choked on her sobs again. Her throat was so locked tight that she almost couldn’t breathe, never mind speak. Janie rubbed her back and made soothing noises.

“Get it all out, there’s a love... It’ll come right, you’ll see,” she murmured. She rocked Cherry, comforting her as best she could. At long last Cherry was able to sit up and wipe her eyes with the tissue Janie handed her.

“Now tell me, love. What happened?” Janie continued to stroke Cherry’s arm, hoping to keep her calm. Cherry snuffled into the tissue.

“W-we had a n-nice dinner, and, and, I really liked him!” Cherry hiccuped. “I thought, I thought...I thought I could go home with him and...” She gulped, unable to continue. 

“Cherry, look at me now. Did he rape you?” Janie demanded softly.

Cherry sniffled. “No, but…” she struggled to articulate, unable to find the words.

“But what, love?” Janie was struggling to be patient with her friend, knowing how nearly impossible it was for Cherry to speak about anything sexual. It must have been bad to put her in this state.

“I… It h-hurt. And, and he seemed to think all my noises and whimpers of pain meant I was enjoying it. And, and, he kept telling me how tight and hot I was...”

“Didn’t you ask him to stop?”

“N-no...I’m so stupid! I-I couldn’t get a w-word out! It hurt and I just l-let him, and I’m so mad at myself!” Tears were still leaking from her eyes. “And he didn’t even notice! God Janie, I’m just so crap at sex, and I’ll never get it right!”

“Oh hun, of course you will! No one really knows what they’re doing at first—“

“But this was, like, my fifth or sixth time! I should know how by now! And it’s only getting worse!”

“Oh, Cherry...” Janie looked at her helplessly…

“Why don’t they teach this shite in school!” Cherry burst out.

Janie erupted into genuine laughter. Only Cherry would suggest that there should be an actual class!

“Can’t you just see the look on your mother’s face if your secondary school had offered a real world course in how to fuck?!” Janie laughed.

Cherry gave a watery chuckle, her usual humour finally starting to push her tears away. 

“With Labs, and homework, why not?! That would make ever so much more sense than sending us out into the world to figure all the mechanics out for ourselves! God knows they taught us everything there is to know about contraception and social diseases, but it’s all useless without some practical training!”

“Christ, your mother’s head really would have exploded! There would have been bits of her all over the countryside!” They both laughed at that, though Cherry’s laughter held a distinct grim longing.

Cherry did not have what one might call a ‘great’ relationship with her mother. She’d long ago stopped hoping for one. The woman was just cold and unloving. Thank god Janie understood. Cherry sighed.

“I wish I could find a nice bloke like your Geoff...”

Janie had met her Geoff at an exclusive little private club a bit more than a year ago. She had been introduced to the club by her then boyfriend. The boyfriend hadn’t worked out, but the club sure had.

“Right. Wait right there.”

She leapt from her seat and trotted off to the kitchen. Cherry heard the freezer open and thud closed, the silverware drawer rattle open and slam shut, and Janie was back on the sofa, two spoons in one hand and a pint of Haagen Daz Salted Caramel Chocolate in the other, the lid off and a faint cold mist curling from the surface of the ice cream.

Snatching a spoon from Janie’s fist and wrapping her hand around Janie’s, she held the cold carton of sympathy and comfort steady while she dug her spoon in.

Cherry collapsed against the sofa at the chocolaty cold taste cooling her tongue, overloading her senses. This is why ice cream is the hands down popular choice with women who have man trouble. The freezing cold and flavours take over your senses until there’s just no room for other shite, not anger, or self-recrimination, or even just sadness…

Cherry groaned, her eyes closing in bliss as she rolled the freezing spoonful of chocolaty goodness around her mouth. She heard Janie snort.

“Girl, tell me about tonight.” She shoveled another spoonful in her mouth, but she clearly meant to get a full answer.

“Ugh,” Cherry grunted. “So, I’ve been on two dates with this bloke. Steve. He’s polite. He’s witty. He’s fairly ok looking, and he asked me about my life, didn’t just lecture me about all of his rubbish. He let me talk and asked appropriate questions that showed he was actually listening. He was charming and attentive. So I decided to go home with him. And it was awful. I mean he’s a decent kisser, but as for the rest? I’m not even sure that he knew there was a woman attached to the,” she covered her mouth and grimaced, whispering, “warm hole he stuck his dick in! And he kept talking like he was in some kind of porno! Christ, what does a girl have to do to get a decent shag around here?!” Cherry blushed.

Janie snickered. “Well don’t look at me! I’m pretty sure that my Sir wouldn’t approve unless he were directing things!”

Cherry rolled her eyes.

“Honestly Janie, Give over!”

“Fuck no, Cherry! Not until you finally give some thought to what I’m saying!”

Cherry snorted and reached for the carton of ice cream. Janie pulled it back, holding the carton behind her. Cherry’s eyes narrowed and she huffed, flinging herself back on the sofa.

Janie had been bugging her for ages to come out to her club,

but she’d resisted, preferring to stick to regular dating with regular men. Not that all these (regular) men were working out too well. Not at all, actually. Why would any man believe that she owed him sex just because he’d paid for her dinner? Nevermind come right out and say it! 

Like, (‘Hey baby, I bought you dinner. Suck my dick.’ Honestly, does that actually work?? Man, he’d better be a gorgeous, sexy Billionaire with a really big dick, two tickets to Paris fashion week, a credit card, and a villa overlooking the Champs D’ Lysee! Maybe a pet Unicorn.

Then there were the ones who spend the entire time talking about themselves, or mansplaining Brexit, that she never got a chance to say more than ‘Please pass the salt’. 

God, then there was tonight’s caper. Fiasco. It’s her own damn fault. Steve had seemed like such a nice man. They’d had a lovely date. He was charming and attentive, and it had been suck a long time since her last disastrous fling.

It was great at first. He was a really good kisser, and his hands on her had felt so good on her body. And then they were in his bedroom and he was mumbling about how tight she was, how good she felt while she was twisting and whimpering in pain. He thought her noises of pain were pleasure. But it hurt, and she hadn’t known how to tell him that. She’d been miserable, and when he was finally done she’d escaped as soon as possible.

God, she felt so stupid. All she’d had to say was (stop), or (no), or even (ow!). And yet, she hadn’t because...because she was too embarrassed, (mortified) by her own inability to (enjoy) sex like a normal woman.

Maybe she was just one of those women who can’t get off with a man. Maybe she should just quit trying. She could buy a lot of batteries and just cuddle up to BOB when she needed to. But then she’d probably end as a dried up, bitter old woman like Mother...

Maybe she (should) listen to Janie. Janie is happy. Blissfully happy. Janie has Geoff, who appears to love her as much as she loves him. But it’s pretty clear that her relationship with Geoff isn’t what one would call ‘normal’. 

And that’s all Cherry ever wanted, to be normal. Not the weird buttoned up daughter of that mean old woman who punished her for even talking to a boy, who slapped her face, called her a slut and forced a bar of soap into her mouth until she vomited...

Her stomach heaved even now, just thinking of what Mother would have.... Was that going to be her life? Become Mother? Or...

“Fine.”

Janie stared at her for a long, patient moment before speaking.

“Cherry love, you’ve been looking for a good shag in all the wrong places.” She put her finger up and pointed it at Cherry, demanding her attention.

Cherry tried not to snicker at Janie’s twisting of that old song lyric. She heaved a sigh. “I’m sorry. You were saying?”

“Girl, my community is chock full of men who, to a man, would totally get off on getting you off.”

Cherry snorted and reached for another spoonful of ice cream. “Yeah, but the price is letting some bloke order me about and smack me!”

It was Janie’s turn to snort. “Do I look any the worse for wear?”

Cherry laughed derisively “I’ve seen you creeping around, stiff as an old granny some days, hissing when your arse meets a chair!”

“And have you ever heard me complain?” Janie’s eyebrow arched.

Actually, come to that, she hadn’t. Cherry had seen Janie come home from an evening out with an air of bliss and contentment. In fact, Janie had come home from her club like that every damn time. 

Cherry sobered. “Janie, I don’t know. I honestly can’t see myself enjoying pain. I mean, look at tonight’s fiasco! I can’t see how it could possibly do anything but distract me from pleasure, not add to it. I mean, how does that even work?”

“Look hun, everybody, and I mean everybody, is different. Maybe pain won’t be your thing. For loads of people it isn’t. But you’ll never know what is or isn’t for you unless you let your guard down and try with someone you trust. 

“You said you wish there was a class in sexual satisfaction. Well, this is probably the closest thing you’ll ever find to that.

“BDSM isn’t all about pain. In fact, for most of us, Dom or sub or in-between, what it’s really about is letting go and exploring our sexuality without judging ourselves or others. You won’t believe how freeing it is to block out all the disapproving voices in your head. The ones that tell you you’re not good enough, or normal enough. The ones that tell you you’re a freak because you want to discover yourself, because you might, just might, need something not in the socially, religiously approved handbook of vanilla sex.”

Cherry snorted. “Wait, there’s a handbook? Why didn’t anybody tell me?”

“It’s a metaphor, twit!” Janie rolled her eyes in exasperation. “I’m gonna tell you again, girl. There isn’t anything wrong with you! You’re just so hung up on this idea of normality that you won’t consider trying something else.

“Look, vanilla ice cream is nice and all. Some people like it best, but that’s not all there is! I mean, vanilla ice cream is ok, but you don’t feel (ashamed) because you like salted caramel chocolate better. And you wouldn’t stand for someone telling you that you can’t have it anymore because it’s not ‘normal’. So why should you let the great anonymous ‘they’ judge you for trying, or even liking something more than vanilla sex?” 

“Folks in the lifestyle are being honest with themselves and with their partner. Have you (ever) been honest with a partner?”

Cherry sat up indignantly. “Of course I’m honest!”

“Really? Because you keep coming home from dates moaning about how none of your dates ever pays attention to your needs. Are you (telling) them what you need? Or even taking your pleasure into your own hands, so to speak?”

Cherry sat bewildered, with her mouth hanging open. “Well, of course not! That would be…rude.”

“So it’s less rude to lie there through unrewarding sex and then come home and complain about it to me? You won’t even give them a second chance to do better!”

“Girl, if a guy can’t even do it for me the first time, why should I go back? I value myself too much to waste my time with a second go!” 

Janie huffed and sat back, shaking her head. “No you don’t value yourself. If you did you’d be making the effort to figure out what you like specifically and you’d be willing to show your partner. You complain that they treat you like a hole in the mattress, but you treat them all like nothing more than an unsatisfactory fuck stick!”

Cherry sat stunned at Janie’s blunt assessment. She dearly wanted to tell her that she didn’t know shite about Cherry’s sex life, but clearly she did. Janie had been listening to Cherry tell her about it for years. Not that she had ever gone into all the gritty details with her best friend. Like tonight for instance.

She’d always blamed the men when she talked to Janie. But inside, she knew it was her. She was so shriveled up with embarrassment and self hatred inside, she knew she’d never get it right.

Cherry had managed to escape Mother. She was proud of herself for getting into Uni, taking her veterinary courses, and doing very well, thank you very much! She was proud that she got the job at the vet clinic. She was proud that she had a place to live, with a friend who loved her. She knew she’d done amazingly well, considering what she’d come from. But this one thing was crippling her. 

Maybe...maybe she could look into it.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the delay. Typing is a bitch. Cherry's story continues, and the next chapter is being edited as we speak. There will be more on all fronts, promise!

Once Cherry had tentatively committed herself to the enterprise, Janie had started her on a couple of books about D/s relationships and BDSM in general. She’d even shown Cherry a few videos, though Janie had taken pity on her and allowed her to watch them in privacy. 

Cherry had still blushed wildly at some of the things demonstrated. Well, all of it, really. But some of that stuff...almost looked interesting. She had recoiled from anything to do with whipping, and wasn’t too keen on the spanking. 

She’d had to turn off the blow job video, which had looked intriguing, until the Dom suddenly slapped the girl’s face. It took her days after that to get over it. Every time she thought about it she shuddered. It was just so shocking and awful!

“Alright. What’s going on with you, Cherry? You haven’t said six consecutive words to me in the last two days. Are you ok?”

Cherry glanced up blankly from the Small Animal Pharmacology textbook she was supposed to be revising.

It took her a moment to focus on Janie, but her worried face made her words suddenly come clear.

Cherry couldn’t stand much more contemplation of what she’d seen. It was taking over her dreams and invading her daytime thoughts.

She had to work out how to tell Janie what she’d seen and how it made her stomach so tight that she felt like vomiting.

Cherry stared at Janie, her eyes begging her to be patient with her, cursing her tied tongue while she searched for words. It was hard, even with Janie. If she couldn’t just spit it out with her best friend, how on earth did she think that she was going to be able to talk about this stuff with a strange man?

Janie’s stomach sank. It was obvious to her that Cherry was freaked out about something, and she had an idea that it was something to do with the reading or viewing material Janie had given her.

She sat next to Cherry and reached out to grasp her hand.

“Okay, breathe. I’m listening.” Janie said gently. “Whenever you’re ready…”

Cherry’s mind was scrambling for words. “That video with the…the girl was…and then the man slapped her face! Why would he do that?!” Cherry wailed. She felt sick.

Janie immediately knew which video Cherry was freaking out over. She could just kick herself for including that one.

Janie knew that Cherry had a phobia about things flying into her face or her face being struck. Even playing catch as kids had always terrified her. She knew it was to do with the abuse Cherry’s mother had subjected her to.

“I’m so sorry, Cherry. I didn’t think. I shouldn’t have included that video for you. I forgot that having anything come at your face is a trigger for you.” Janie grasped her friend’s hands tightly.

“That face slapping thing is, well, some folks really enjoy that. Some don’t! What you need to understand is that what you saw was negotiated between the two of them. Either one of them could have said no and it would never have happened. All you ever have to say is your safeword. Or put it on your hard limits list.

Janie had reminded Cherry over and over that everyone was different. Everyone has their own limits, and absolutely everyone had a safeword and was allowed to use it anytime. Everything she saw on the video had been consented to by the participants.

Cherry had asked Janie about spankings. She shuddered at the idea. Her only experience with punishment had been as a child. Mother’s punishments hadn’t been pleasurable in any way.

“I can’t work out how getting a spanking is supposed to enhance your pleasure! How does that even work?”

Janie had taken a long moment to think before answering. “Well, for me, it doesn’t. I don’t like punishments and honestly, Geoff doesn’t like handing them out. I’d much rather just do what I’m told, because I know Geoff would never ask me to do something that would be bad for me either physically or emotionally. Occasionally I screw up, and I accept the consequences. I may not like punishments, but I do like the results. He never raises a hand to me without my consent, or when he’s angry. But when I’ve broken a rule that we have agreed upon, I definitely learn not to do it again!”

“What sort of rules?”

“Well… like not procrastinating. You know I’ve always put off things until the last minute, or until never. And being on time for things. Geoff has really helped me learn to be more organized and intentional.

And once the punishment is complete there are no recriminations, no lectures or guilt, and there are lots of cuddles. And, well, I may not enjoy the actual spanking, but it can be cathartic instead of carrying around a load of guilt.” Janie grinned. 

“And there’s something truly delicious about having sex with a very warm, sensitive bottom! The orgasms are out of this world!”

Cherry flushed and hastily held a hand up. “Wait! I don’t need all the details of your sex life!” As it was, she didn’t know how she’d ever be able to look Geoff in the eye again!

“You asked. You wanted to know how punishments can be a good thing. And honestly, without the cuddles and orgasms, they wouldn’t. But that’s just me. There are women who live for a good hiding. I don’t know why they enjoy it, but I don’t have to understand it. It’s their kink, not mine.”

Cherry blinked at her, still baffled. But Janie was right. She didn’t have to understand anyone else’s...thing. She just had to figure out her own. But that led to another problem. If all she had to figure out was her own things, wasn’t that just, well, masturbation? The point was to learn how to enjoy sex with a man, right?

“Ok, I guess that makes some sort of sense... I have to figure out my own shite, not everyone else’s. But don’t I have to work out how to please my, um, partner?” 

Janie smiled gently. “That’s one of the brilliant things about Doms. They won’t make you guess, they will tell you how to please them. Generally, they get off on telling you what to do to please them, and how, exactly, to do it. Just follow their directions, it’s better than an instruction booklet!” Janie’s face went dreamy. “It’s just so freeing to just be told what he wants from me, to not have to try to read his mind, or worry about whether I’m doing it right...”

Cherry’s face was in flames again, but as she looked at the softness in Janie’s face, heard the love in her voice, she couldn’t deny that Janie had found something wonderful that suited her down to the ground. A small hope bloomed in her that maybe she could have something like it. If she could only nerve herself to reach for it.

Cherry spent the better part of a fortnight filling out the forms with which Janie had presented her. Her club was private and actually had a formalised application process that included questionnaires with boxes to check, and a rather thorough set of medical questions about possible physical limitations or allergies to foods or latex, and blood tests for communicable diseases. It took her nearly a week to go through the frightening list of kinks that some people apparently get up to.

She couldn’t bring herself to ask Janie about any of the things on that list that she didn’t understand. She just checked no. She had been surprised and vastly relieved that there was actually a question about face slapping. That got a no! so adamant, she’d accidentally put her pen through the paper.

Other things... the idea of being restrained had brought a shiver, in a good way. A few other possibilities... She’d admittedly gotten a bit dreamy over role playing games. She had that Vampire fantasy, though she was certain she wouldn’t want to be actually bitten hard enough to draw blood, the scary thrill of being hunted or chased, though? She shivered.

Playing at being a puppy might be fun! But she really had no idea how that could be sex play and not…bestial.

She’d shrugged over Orgasm Denial and didn’t bother to tick it. She could hardly be denied what she couldn’t do in the first place!

Then, at the last was an essay section that she’d dithered over for ages. What did she want from a D/s relationship?? For someone generally too tongue tied to talk about sexual things, it had been a huge challenge even to write about it. And she couldn’t simply say she really just wanted to learn how to...fuck, could she?

In the end, she had managed to write something coherent about wanting to learn about her own sexuality. And learning how to even talk with a partner about what she likes, and ask about his likes in turn. She wanted to enjoy sex, she just didn’t know how. She thought she’d managed to convey that she didn’t really know what to ask for because she didn’t really have a wide range of experiences.

She’d endured a conversation with Janie about possibly preferring women, with a flaming face, but she really didn’t think women were her thing. Other women never showed up in her fantasies, or caught her attention and made her middle all dreamy, nervous, and warm the way some men did. 

Then she’d gone over and over the damn thing for grammar and spelling mistakes obsessively, until Janie had demanded she hand it over. Janie had taken it to...wherever, and Cherry had chewed her nails for a week, wondering if anything would come of it. She half expected to be told she was wasting their time.

And then the invitation came.

< >

You are warmly invited on a journey of discovery and earthly delights, where all your deepest secret desires and needs will be explored and met with ecstasy   
Your journey begins on Friday Night at Seven pm, when you will join your host for a sumptuous candlelit meal and delightfully frank conversation.   
You, lovely, will be dining in your finest lingerie…  
And nothing else.  
Instructions du jour, to be followed to the letter:  
Clear your calendar Friday night and Saturday.  
Inform your sponsor of your location  
Arrive promptly  
Go right in, do not announce yourself  
Remove your outer clothing, folding and placing them on the sideboard on the foyer  
Leave your shoes, bag and mobile  
Follow the floor lighting to the open door where your presence is eagerly awaited  
Graciously offer up your trust and obedience, your pleasure will be returned multiplied.

< >

Janie practically had pull her out from under the sofa to even open the thing. Janie had spent the whole week regaling her with fun tales of the play she got up to with Geoff, and now Cherry was certain she’d have to move to the Antarctic just to avoid having to look Geoff in the eye ever again. Janie had also loaded her down with all sorts of tips and advice for the proper care and feeding of a Dom.

Janie had drilled into her that she had a safeword and she was required to use it if she felt unsafe or frightened. She’d made the very good point that just as she had to trust her Dom with her wellbeing, the Dom had to trust that she would tell him if she believed her wellbeing was in danger. She’d said that everyone had different triggers, and that she needed to honour hers without fear of being rude. A good Dom would always honour her safeword.

“If you’re going to give this D/s thing a fair try Cherry, you’ll have to be totally upfront and honest. Expect to be asked unexpected, socially unacceptable and ridiculously intimate questions.” Janie warned.

“Oh sure,” Cherry grinned, “no problem.”

“Cherry,” Janie warned again, “I’m not joking! One of the first 5 questions Geoff asked me the first time we met was ‘When did you last come?’”

“No shit?” Cherry’s grin got broader.

“No shit. So, Cherry girl, exactly when was the last time you came?”

Cherry’s mouth fell open in shock and she felt her face heat.

“Look Cherry, I’m doing you a favour, giving you a little taste of what you’ve agreed to. Answering questions, extremely uncomfortable and even uncouth questions, fully and honestly, is harder that you’d think. But if you’re committed to giving D/s a fair shake, this is the very first rule. So answer the question girl. When did you last come?” Janies eyes narrowed, staring Cherry down until she realised that Janie really did expect her to answer.

Cheeks flaming hot, Cherry stared down into her coffee. She shrugged. She might as well answer, it was only Janie after all. She still stammered over her answer.

“T-this morning in the shower.”

Janie grinned. “Good for you!”

A slightly relieved, proud smile started over Cherry’s face until Janie spoke again.

“Don’t be surprised if the next question is a demand for the details, and an expectation that you look him in the eye as you describe your orgasm. Or he might tell you to demonstrate for him right then and there.”

The hand holding Cherry’s coffee trembled and she set the coffee hastily on the table. She looked appalled.

“I can’t— I mean, I couldn’t_!”

“I just want you to be prepared. This is not your mother’s dating service!”

Cherry winced. “Eugh! I could have done without Mother in my head, thanks very much!”

Janie grimaced back. “Yeah, me too. Sorry.” She thought a moment, considering. 

“Look, think of it as a two way trust exercise. He has to know he can trust you to be honest and aboveboard with him so that he can give you what you actually need. And you need to be able to trust him to keep you safe, physically and emotionally. To do that, he’s going to need to ask some pretty pointed and intimate questions, and you’re going to have to give him honest answers.

Cherry blew out a long breath and shook her head. “Ok, I can see that trust is necessary. But what I don’t understand is why he would want to go to all the trouble to understand and meet my needs. I mean, what about his needs?”

Janie smiled gently.

“Sweetheart, he’s a Dom. Dom’s get off on meeting a submissive’s needs.” Her eyes went a little dreamy.

“It’s an incredible thing to be at the center of a Dom’s attention. Amazing. Also a little scary.”

Cherry watched goose bumps break out on Janie’s arms as she shivered slightly at some memory. She realised she was actually envious of Janie and Geoff. What wouldn’t she be willing to do for a chance at that happiness herself?

For the first time Cherry stopped focusing on the probable pain and/or punishment component of a D/s relationship, and considered the possibility that pleasing a Dom could be a feedback loop, and the pleasure could come back to her magnified.

And thankfully Janie had reminded her that all the Doms in her club had been through the same vetting process she had. And they apparently had to go through a probationary period and be vouched for. There actually were classes in this stuff!

****

Cherry stood on the pavement, looking up at the nice detached brick with the blue door and black shutters, green ivy climbing up the brick, and her heart in her throat beating out a tattoo of nerves.

She had spent so much time filling out reams of paperwork. At least it had felt like reams, although it had turned out to be less than ten pages in total. She’d labored so long over them that she couldn’t just turn tail and run, now could she? She was committed.

It’s just that the blunt intimacy of the questions, and her fear of answering them inadequately had made it seem like hundreds of pages. Thank god she’d been allowed all the time she needed to answer. She’d gone over her answers obsessively, correcting, clarifying and spell checking. It wouldn’t do to hand over her deepest, darkest, desires full of spelling and grammatical errors! Not that she really had any idea what her deepest, darkest desires even were...

She took a deep breath, swallowing around the lump of anxiety hovering in her throat, trying to remind herself that she had done the very best that she could to answer those questions as honestly and completely as she knew how.

She needed this. Or at least she needed to find out if this was the thing she’d been unconsciously searching for in every one of her stunted, broken relationships with men.

She squared her shoulders and marched up the steps to the door, automatically raising her hand to knock.

Her hand jerked to a halt in mid air. Three seconds into this and she’d already almost violated the strict instructions she’d been sent in her invitation!

Let yourself into the house without announcing yourself  
Leave your inhibitions on the door step

Cherry shivered. He, whoever he was, had demanded she start by violating a fundamental social norm, ‘knock before entering’, and she’d almost knocked anyway. Cherry twisted a strand of hair in her fingers.

Following directions had seemed like the easiest thing in the world, but she could see now that she would need to pay close attention to the simplest instruction, and rein in her automatic social responses. Janie had warned her that she couldn’t rely on her normal social conditioning. And that ‘good manners’ frequently had an entirely different definition in D/s to the vanilla world.

Which was what she was here for, really. She wanted to be free from all those voices telling her ‘No’, telling her that she can’t have a satisfactory sex life because that would be wrong. Or bad. Or something. Cherry felt restricted and squashed by all the social expectations Mother had drilled into her. But she needed to figure out if there was more to sex than a constant feeling of inadequacy. And fear.

All she had to do was follow directions.

Her hand dropped to the door latch and she pulled in another breath before pushing the door open on what she hoped would be her answers.

In the dark lounge Ben had watched, motionless, through the sheer curtains at the window overlooking the brightly lit front step. Watching the girl vacillate and nearly holding his breath, he silently urged her to be brave. 

He’d been intrigued by her answers to the questionnaire. And the obvious and meticulous effort she’d put into them. Her answers gave every appearance of being well thought out, honest and sincere. He thought she might have the perfect mix of needs for their purposes.

His cock stirred in his trousers as he watched her struggle with her social conditioning, but he ignored it. She was a beautiful shape, and just the right size for him. The cheek turned his way was smooth and luminous. He watched as her hand darted to her hair, pulling on a strand and winding it unconsciously around her finger. Her white teeth dimpled her full bottom lip, worrying it. 

His silent urging turned into a silent plea. Open the door.

She did, peeking uncertainly through the gap, silhouetted by the street lamp behind her. Oh yes, good girl…

Ben stood still in the dark corner of the room, not wishing her to know she was observed yet. Would she follow the rest of her instructions?

Cherry curiously peered through the doorway into a darkened foyer, small night lights at the baseboards illuminating her path, but not bright enough to see much above her knee level.

She grabbed her courage with both hands and stepped in, pushing the door shut behind her. Thank god it was warm in here.

Janie had warned her that Doms like to keep a girl a bit off balance. So far she’d been bloody right!

Her instructions had been to remove all her outer clothing. She could expect to be dining in her knickers and bra. She had agonized and vacillated all day about which knickers and bra, alternating with almost picking up the phone to call it all off. But then she would have had to explain herself to an actual person…

In the end she’d chosen a cute blush pink with black polka dots ensemble, something \’fun’ rather than trying to be sexy. She was far too nervous to feel sexy.

Janie had watched her dither with a small knowing smile, the cow. And reminded her that she had a safeword. That had stiffened Cherry’s spine a bit. She wasn’t in pain, or afraid. She was only vastly embarrassed, and Cherry didn’t really believe that was a safe-wordable excuse. He fundamental embarrassment was one of the reasons she had signed up for this, after all…

After stripping off her clothes in the near dark, folding them neatly and leaving the little pile on the small table beside the door, along with her bag and shoes, Cherry followed the floor lights as instructed to the first open doorway on the left.

A low, flickering light came through the door and drew her into a candlelit dining room. Her eyes raced over the room in the low light, checking for the presence of anyone else, but she was alone. Nevertheless, a small shiver went up her spine.

Now Cherry paused for a more detailed visual sweep of the room, noting the long, dark wood dining table set with white plates, silver, crystal, and a low, silver branched candelabra surrounded by little fruit and flower bowls, all grouped at one end of the table. The rest of the gleaming table stood bare, the matching chairs around the fireplace in a casual, conversational grouping.

The room was beautiful, painted hunter green with dark wood crown moldings, and a stone fireplace with a dark slab of wood as a mantle piece in one wall, the fire casting light and warmth over the room.

A deep voice cleared itself to her right. She jumped and spun to see a man step from the shadows in the doorway into the candlelight. Cherry’s hands leapt to her mouth to smother her startled scream.

A gorgeous man. Tall, with black or dark brown (it was hard to tell in that lighting) curls, startlingly blue eyes under authoritative dark brows, cheekbones out to here, a chiseled jaw and the lushest lips she’d ever seen on a man.

Cherry froze, her voice stuck in her throat as her eyes traveled down an incredibly sexy, prominent Adam’s apple, down a lithe, trim body, and legs that went all the way down to the floor, all clad in a dark suit, white shirt with an open collar, and beautifully tailored trousers that ended in a perfect cuffed break, right at the tops of his bare feet.

There was something both self-assured and reassuring about those long bare feet.

“Hello.” The man leaned a hip against the doorway, crossed his arms, and looked her up and down as well.

Cherry’s voice shook slightly, her eyes were wide. “P-please tell me you’re Ben, and I h-haven’t wandered into the wrong house..?”

He chuckled. “Yes, I’m Ben. If you’re Cherry, then you are indeed in the right place. If not, we both have quite a big surprise coming…”

Cherry sputtered a laugh, some of her nervousness dissipating at his quip, her shoulders falling from their defensive clench. 

Ben felt pleasure roll through him, easing her through her incipient fear. Nerves were fine. Lovely, in fact. But outright terror was not in his plans for her.


End file.
